Rotary electric machines including electric motors, generators, and the like have employed various types of stator windings. The most common stator winding type is a distributed winding. One type of which is an integer-slot winding wherein the number of slots per pole per phase is an integer. An example of this is a 4 pole 12 slot, 3 phase motor. The number of slots per pole per phase is 1 and therefore an integer. These windings typically require some relatively complex end turns to wire them properly.
Another type of distributed winding is a fractional-slot winding. When the number of slots per pole per phase is a fraction greater than one, this is called a fractional-slot winding. This also has complicated end turns and has the disadvantage of being less efficient. It is sometimes used to smooth out torque ripple or for other specific applications.
Another type of winding is a concentrated winding when the number of slots per pole per phase is a fraction less than one. These can also be called a non-overlapping concentrated winding. They have the disadvantage of decreasing the inherent efficiency of the device, but make the end turns very simple and can facilitate other advantages. An example of a concentrated winding would be an 8 pole, 9 slot, 3 phase machine. The number of slots per pole per phase is 0.375 in this case. The fundamental power from this configuration is reduced by 5.5%. Concentrated windings can be single layer or double layer designs. Single layer designs have windings that are wound only on alternating stator teeth and only apply where there is an even number of stator slots/teeth. Double layer designs have coils wound on every stator tooth. In this configuration, there is a coil that surrounds each of the teeth on the stator and there are the same number of coils as slots. Further, each slot has half of one coil and half of another coil going through the slot and the end turns are very short. Ideally, the end turns can be as short as the width of the stator tooth.
Double layer concentrated windings have the advantage of being a simple coil wrapped around each tooth. For an external rotor configuration, and using relatively open slots, this allows simple assembly of coils. For the more typical internal rotor configuration, assembly is a bit trickier because even with relatively open slots, the opening is smaller than the slot. This is further complicated if the slot opening is made smaller for motor performance reasons. A typical method of mitigating this issue is to make the teeth separate to either be able to 1) wind the wire directly on the tooth or 2) slide the winding on from the outside. The first method is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,387 entitled STATOR OF DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINE incorporated herein by reference. The second method is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,035 entitled SALIENT POLE CORE AND SALIENT POLE ELECTRONICALLY COMMUTATED MOTOR also incorporated herein by reference although it is shown as an external rotor configuration. Both methods are shown as conventional in U.S. Pat. No. 8,129,880 entitled CONCENTRATED WINDING MACHINE WITH MAGNETIC SLOT WEDGES, incorporated herein by reference. The challenge with any stator lamination design that has separate teeth is to secure the teeth structurally so they do not move or break. Even small movements of the teeth can cause acoustic noise. A second challenge is to configure the joint in such a way to not significantly disturb the magnetic flux traveling through the laminations. If the joint could be made with zero clearance this would not be a problem, but with real manufacturing tolerances and features required for attachment, this is a major consideration.
Rotary electric machines including electric motors, generators, and the like have employed various methods of constructing stator windings. Some methods are applicable to only certain types of stator windings.
One common method is random winding. This method can use rectangular or round wire, but typically uses round wire. Here the windings are placed by the winding machine with the only requirement that they be located in the correct slot. This is the easiest method of stator winding, but results in the lowest amount of conductor in the slot and therefore the lowest efficiency. This type method can be used with any type of stator winding including concentrated windings.
Another common method is traditional form winding. This method typically uses rectangular wire with mica tape located between conductors to separate any conductors that are significantly different in voltage. This insures a robust winding for higher voltage machines or machines that are prone to partial discharge. This is the most labor-intensive type of winding and is typically used in machines that are less cost sensitive. This type method can be used with any type of stator winding but is typically used for distributed windings.
One winding type that is not typical in motors, is used in certain types of transformers, chokes, and inductors is bobbin layer winding. This type of winding places conductors in exact locations for very accurate stacking of wires. This can achieve a high amount of conductors in a small area for high efficiency. This is not typically used for distributed windings because you are not able to bobbin wind a coil and then insert it into a stator assembly. This is possible with concentrated windings that have removable teeth. The most common wire to use is round wire but it is possible to use square or rectangular wire. Layer winding with rectangular wire is typically laid flat and wound the easy way. This facilitates simpler winding, but one disadvantage of this is the eddy current losses due to slot leakage can be significantly higher. Also, orientation of the rectangular wire can have an impact on thermal performance and depends on the overall heat removal scheme.
Layer winding with rectangular wire can be done edge wound (wound the hard way.) This is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,393 entitled DYNAMOELECTRIC FIELD ASSEMBLY AND WINDING THEREFOR incorporated herein by reference. In this patent a single layer of rectangular wire is used in each slot and is edge wound. This patent used removable teeth and an internal rotor. U.S. patent application serial number 2010/0066198 filed Mar. 18, 2010 entitled INSERTION OF PRE-FABRICATED CONCENTRATED WINDINGS INTO STATOR SLOTS incorporated herein by reference also shows a single layer of rectangular wire but does not use removable teeth. Edge wound coils can have significantly lower eddy current losses in the wires. The cooling may be better or worse depending on the overall cooling scheme.
Rotary electric machines including electric motors, generators, and the like have employed various cooling methods including air cooling and liquid cooling. Liquid cooling is used to help make motors smaller and to remove the heat more efficiently.
The most common liquid cooling design uses a cooling jacket wrapped around the outside of the stator assembly. This can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,118 entitled LIQUID COOLED MOTOR AND ITS JACKET, included herein by reference. In this design there is an aluminum extrusion that surrounds the outside of the stator and has passages for cooling fluid to pass through. This design cools the stator better than air, but is limited by i) the conductivity between the jacket and the stator, ii) the poor conductivity of the stator laminations, iii) the conductivity of the slot liners, and iv) the poor conductivity between the winding and the slot liners.
Another method that is commonly used is passing cooling through the stator laminations or into slots cut into the stator laminations. Either of these has similar disadvantages to the cooling jacket design.
Further, some techniques involve spraying fluid directly on the stator or submerging the stator. These have the disadvantage of either being overly complex or having the fluid cause drag between the rotor and the stator.
There are at least two techniques placing the cooling jacket through the winding slot. One of these is forcing fluid down the center of a conductor. Typically the fluid in this case is a non-conductive oil. This has the disadvantage of requiring a special fluid and some complex manufacturing methods to provide the fluid channel. Other techniques place a pipe or vessel down through the slot with cooling fluid in it. These typically also use non-conductive oil and have non-conductive connections to a manifold at their end. An example of this can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,112,415 entitled CONTROL OF WINDING TEMPERATURES OF LIQUID COOLED GENERATORS, incorporated herein by reference.
Novel methods of cooling are also shown in other applications filed by Marvin et al U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/548,199 entitled LIQUID COOLED HIGH EFFICIENCY PERMANENT MAGNET MACHINE WITH GLYCOL COOLING, Ser. No. 13/548,203 entitled LIQUID COOLED HIGH EFFICIENCY PERMANENT MAGNET MACHINE WITH IN SLOT GLYCOL COOLING, Ser. No. 13/548,207 entitled HIGH EFFICIENCY PERMANENT MAGNET MACHINE WITH CONCENTRATED WINDING AND DOUBLE COILS, and Ser. No. 13/548,208 entitled HIGH EFFICIENCY PERMANENT MAGNET MACHINE WITH LAYER FORM WINDING all filed Jul. 13, 2012, all incorporated herein by reference.